Avoid Distracting Visuals in TV Ad Risk Info: Study

An eye-tracking research study conducted by FDA finds that even if TV direct-to-consumer ads present risk information through both audio and superimposed text, distracting visuals can keep consumers from focusing on key information in the ad and should be avoided. The results were published in the Journal of Public Policy & Marketing. The agency researchers say that previous studies determined that including mandatory risk information in two different formats increases its retention. But while retention is increased, they say, distracting elements draw attention away from the superimposed text and this in turn reduced retention of drug risk information.

“Interestingly,” the researchers write, “the distractors do not appear to have a trickle-over effect wherein the viewer is more likely to ignore subsequent superimposed text. Visual distracting elements may cause viewers to switch their attention from the text to the distraction, but they are able to switch their attention back to the text when the distraction subsides.”